I never knew before now that there was such an extensive system of hospitals, resettlement camps and help existed for Polish soldiers to resettle in the UK all made available through the Polish Resettlement Corps. Nor that the The Polish Resettlement Act 1947 existed and “was the first ever mass immigration legislation of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It offered British citizenship to over 200,000 displaced Polish troops on British soil who had fought against Nazi Germany and opposed the Soviet takeover of their homeland. The act also supplied a labour force to the demands of war-torn Britain” (Wikipedia). It’s amazing what you learn through tracing your family.

Whilst in hospital in Scotland, Stanislaw started to search for his Grandmother and her children, his Aunts and Uncles, that had travelled to England in or around 1900. They were Minnie Teiger and her children Adolf, Amelia, Joseph, Michael, Bennett and Martin. I’ll share more information in my next post as I have been sent some wonderful letters that Stanislaw sent to his family during this time.

There is a website at http://www.polishgreatness.com that contains photographs of the 2nd Polish Corps during their battle at Monte Cassino in Italy, where Stanislaw was injured. Nothing brings history to life better than pictures and these photos give you a real sense of what all these soldiers went through and suffered during this battle.